Harlequin ladybirds from East Asia are feeding on their British cousins and contributing to the decline of some species, a study has found

Harlequin ladybirds from East Asia are feeding on their British cousins and
contributing to the decline of some species, a study has found.

Research analysing the contents of the guts of harlequin larvae revealed that
the species, which mainly eats aphids, was also preying on ten-spot and
two-spot ladybirds. The harlequin, a larger and more voracious species than
British ladybirds, spread to the UK after being imported to Europe for the
commercial control of crop pests.

Previous research showed that seven out of eight British ladybird species had
declined in the five years since the arrival in 2004 of the